Kingdom Hearts 3- Kairi's Story
by nightwriter212
Summary: This story contains the adventures Kairi as she travels to find the remaining Princesses of Heart, along with Donald and Goofy. As she does, Kairi hopes to be strong enough to find and rescue Sora.
1. Mysterious Tower

At the Mysterious Tower, Kairi was asked to come by Master Yen Sid.

"I've heard from Riku that you might have lost confidence in yourself," spoke Yen Sid. "Is this true?"

Kairi hung her head, standing awkwardly as she listened.

"I guess..." she answered

"Why's that?"

"I felt like I didn't do much in the battle against Xehanort. Not only that..." She rubbed her arm as the memory came back. "I can feel like it's my fault. If I hadn't been taken by Xemnas..."

"Now, now, don't be too hard on yourself. You fought just as hard and bravely as everyone else there. There was no way we could have predicted what would happen." Yen Sid's tone turned serious. "What happened to Sora was not your fault. He made his choice to save you, despite the consequences, and I know, he would not want you to continue being sad."

Kairi tried to smile at Yen Sid's attempt of cheering her up, but failed. Yen Sid sighed as he pulled on his beard.

"So, in light of this, I'm sending you on a mission to find the three remaining Princesses of Heart."

Kairi's eyes widen in shock. "What?!"

Yen Sid nodded. "From what Sora, Donald and Goofy told us, there are a new Seven Princesses of Heart, which includes you. Three have already been found and identified. Even though the worlds are no longer in danger, I figured it'll be safe to know who and where the remaining princesses are. Plus, we still have Maleficent and Pete to worry about."

"But, why me?"

"You need something to boost your confidence as well as to to take your mind off your loss. Technically, I thought you would be more excited to visit a new world?"

Kairi giggled a little. "I am. Maybe this time I won't be unconscious, kidnapped or held prisoner to actually enjoy the world I'm in. Am I going alone?"

"No, Donald and Goofy have volunteered to help you on your search. Speaking of which, Riku should be here soon. I also have a mission for him."

"Alright." Kairi stood straighter and bowed. "Thank you, Master."

Yen Sid nodded in return. With that, Kairi turned and left the room.

On her way down the steps, Kairi stopped short a few steps when she saw Riku waiting by the front door.

Riku noticed her and waved. "Hey."

"Hi." Kairi continued down the steps, until she got onto the ground floor. "Waiting to wish me good luck?"

"That," he answered ", and I have something to discuss with Master Yen Sid about my my mission."

"Really?" What is it?"

Riku put a finger over his mouth. "Secret." He said, grinning.

"Hey, no fair!" Kairi pouted.

Riku chuckled a bit, before frowning. "Are you going to be alright with this?"

Kairi stopped pouting and slowly nodded.

"You're sure?"

In actuality, Kairi was super terrified about leaving. Even though Donald and Goofy would be there to help her, it would be her first actually exploring a new world. But despite the past experiences she dealt with when going to a new world, she was also excited and determined to see this mission through. Kairi clenched her fists and looked at Riku with a determined look on her face.

"Uh-huh. I'll be just fine."

Riku looked at the determined look on her face, and started to laugh.

"Hey! What's so funny?"

"Your face. It look so much like Sora's whenever he's determined to do something, whether its reckless or stupid. I hate to say this, but maybe it is a good thing he's not here. You take too much after him."

"Hey!"

She slapped him on the arm as he walked past her, towards the stairs. He laughed from his teasing. Kairi pouted, but quickly came up with something equally as teasing.

"I hope you don't miss Namine too much, Riku!" The said person stiffen when he heard that. "I can just picture you two snuggling and cuddling each other the moment you get back!"

Kairi struggled to hold in her laughter, when Riku turned around and she could see that his whole face was blushing red. It was so funny and cute, she couldn't hold in the laughter anymore.

"K-Kairi! Don't say stuff like that! That wasn't even remotely funny! We haven't even held hands yet!" He quickly covered his mouth the moment he realized what he said, but it was already out. Kairi laughed even harder. "Hey!"

Kairi stuck out her tongue in a playful manner. "Nah! That's what you get for teasing about me and Sora!"

Riku stuck his tongue out and Kairi stuck out hers even longer. When they realized how silly they both look, they laughed even harder. When he finally managed to stop, Riku went over and gave Kairi a hug, surprising her.

"You'll be fine," he whispered.

He ruffled her hair, before saying good luck and running up the stairs. Kairi pouted as what he did, ruffling her hair and leaving without saying good-bye. As she fixed her hair, she realized that she wasn't feeling nervous about leaving anymore. She gave a small smile.

"Thanks, Riku." 

Kairi came out of the Mysterious Tower, seeing the Gummi Ship just coming out of a portal and land a few feet away. The hatch opened up and Goofy and Donald hopped out.

Goofy was the first to see Kairi. "Howdy, Kairi. How you doing?"

Kairi waved. "Hi Goofy. Hi Donald."

"Are you ready for your first mission?" asked Donald

"Yep." Se answered as cheerfully as she could and gave a small smile. The two looked at each other, then look back at her. "Wh-what?"

"Didn't Sora tell you? The Gummi Ship is run by happy thoughts, so you're suppose to be happy." Donald explained

"I'm- I'm happy!"

"You don't sound like it." he replied skeptical

"Don't worry, Kairi. It's easy.." said Goofy. "All you have to do is make a funny face."

'A funny face?' Kairi thought. "Is that what you told Sora?"

"Yeah, why?" asked Donald

"Personally, I think you said that just to tease him." she replied. Her answer shocked Donald, even though it was probably true.

"Hey!" he yelled angrily.

Goofy just laughed. "Well, it still doesn't hurt to try. It'll make you feel better too." he suggested.

'Maybe their right,' Kairi thought for a minute, then nodded. "Alright, I'll try."

She hid her face behind her hands, then pulled the funniest face she could muster (up to the reader's imagination). Donald and Goofy laughed as Kairi went red from embarrassment.

"A-alright! I did what you said. Now let's go!" She quickly walked towards the Gummi Ship.

"Hey! Don't forget about me!" Kairi stopped when she heard a voice, but she didn't see anyone. "Over here, Kairi." She looked on her shoulder and saw that it was Jiminy Cricket.

"You're Jiminy." She held out her hands and he jumped into them.

"That's right. We met in Master Yen Sid's Tower before the big battle. It's nice to meet you again, Kairi." He took off his hat and gave her a small bow.

"What are you doing here?" she asked

"Why, I'm here to record your journey, just like I did with Sora."

"Really?" She looked at Donald and Goofy, both who nodded.

"That way, when you see Sora again, you can tell him about the adventures you took."

Kairi's shoulders sagged a little, hearing the mention of Sora's name. The three friends looked at her, worried.

"Are you going to be alright?" asked Donald

Kairi took a deep breath, then looked back at them and nodded with a smile.

"Ready?" asked Goofy, excitingly.

"Ready." She answered

"Then let's go!" cheered Donald

The four friends laughed as their new adventure begins.


	2. Scottish Highlands

**Author's note: Here's the second chapter of the story. This is also posted on Tumblr.**

When Kairi got out of the ship, she saw that they landed in a forest.

"Where are we?" she asked as Donald and Goofy looked around.

"It looks like some kind of forest." answered Goofy

"Yeah, but where?" questioned Donald

Kairi walked around a bit before seeing a faint light. It was tiny and floated off the ground, giving tiny movements. It even looked like it had eyes. She took a small step towards it, before the strange light noticed her. It quickly disappeared, then reappeared a bit further away.

"Wow!" She had never seen anything like that before. "Donald! Goofy! Come check this out!"

The two went over to where Kairi was, and she pointed towards the floating light.

"See that light? I think it's alive."

"You think so?" wondered Goofy. Kairi nodded.

"Let me see!" exclaimed Donald, rushing over to the tiny light.

The light quickly disappeared, surprising Donald and the others, appearing again a few feet away from them. Kairi and Goofy giggled as Donald attempted to try again.

"I think it's playing Tag with Donald." suggested Goofy

"And Donald's it!" chuckled Kairi

When it appeared again, Heartless suddenly appeared, surrounding the little light.

"Heartless!" Donald and Goofy summoned their weapons and went on to attack the dark creatures. Kairi did the same with her Keyblade, but hesitated. She looked down at her hands, shaky yet unmoving. As she was distracted, some of the Heartless came closer towards her. Donald and Goofy noticed the Heartless and managed to get her attention.

"Kairi!" yelled Donald

"Look out!" warned Goofy

Kairi broke out of her hesitation, and managed to fight off the Heartless. After defeating the Heartless, Kairi went over to the tiny light. This time it didn't disappear.

"Are you alright?" she gently asked. She reached her hand to touch it, but like before, it disappeared. But this time, it reappeared, with more tiny lights appearing behind the first. She turned back to her friends.

"I think they want us to follow them." she speculated.

"What makes you say that?" questioned Goofy

"I don't know," she answered, "but I think it wants to pay us back for rescuing it."

"I don't know." pondered Donald

"Pleeease." begged Kairi as she gave him her best puppy dog eyes. He groaned, but gave in.

"Oh, alright." He grumbled as Kairi silently cheered.

"Come on, let's hurry!" She quickly ran over to the floating lights.

Goofy chuckled. "She's a bit like Sora, isn't she?"

Donald grumbled under his breath. "A bit too much like him, if you asked me."

They followed the path of lights, defending them again from other Heartless attacks, until they came upon an old cottage. The light path ended there.

"Why they stop?" asked Donald

"I think they want us to go in there." suggested Goofy. He pointed to a small hut that was nearby. Not sure of what else to do next, the group decided to check it out. Kairi knocked on the door before entering.

"Hello?" she called out.

She opened the door, seeing a room full of bear carvings. She went inside, with Goofy and Donald following. She was impressed by the craftsmanship of the carvings and how many there were.

"Anybody here?" called out Goofy

"Sorry dearies. We're closed today."

Kairi turned around to see an old woman finishing a large bear carving.

"Um, is it okay if we just look around?" she asked

"Nope, sorry. You just missed the sale we had. Everything's bought and paid for already. Just finishing the last-" The old woman froze when she saw Kairi's red hair. "Oh, my!"

Kairi didn't notice. "Well, can you help us? We're looking for-"

"No, no, nonononono." The old woman interrupted, as she snapped her fingers. Her broom suddenly came to life and began pushing Kairi out.

"H-hey!"

"Out, out,out!"

Donald and Goofy saw what was going on and quickly got in front of Kairi, preventing the broom from sweeping her out.

"Hey, what are you doing, you old coot?" yelled Donald

"Yeah, we didn't touch nothing. Or break anything either." spoke Goofy

"I'm sorry, but I won't be having any more red hair lasses coming in and bothering me during my work again." said the old woman. A crow flew from the top of the bear, and perched on top of her head.

"Yeah, red heads seem to be bad luck for us today." the crow squawked

Kairi, Donald and Goofy gasped in shock.

"The-the crow...!" stuttered Donald

"It talked...!" gasped Goofy

"That means... you're a-" started Kairi

"I am not a witch!" the witch argued back. "Now, since you don't have any business here, get out." The witch snapped her fingers, summoning floating knives towards them.

"W-wait! We just need some information! We're looking for someone!" sated Kairi as the three backed away from being stabbed.

"I don't care!"

Just as knives were close enough to poke them, Kairi thought of a random thought popped into her head, hoping that it would help.

"We're students of Merlin!" she yelled

Hearing that, the witch stopped the knives.

"Excuse me, did you say, Merlin?" she asked suspiciously.

"Yes," breathe Kairi, "he's a friend of ours. He's also my teacher."

"Och, I haven't seen him since the last Wickerman Festival. If you really are his students, what are you doing here?" she asked

"Actually, we were given this mission by another wizard." answered Goofy

"Hmmm..." the old woman tapped her chin. "He wouldn't happen to be called Yen Sid now, would he?"

The trio was shocked by that piece of info.

"How do you know that?" asked Donald

The witch chuckled to herself. "Oh, it's been a while since I last saw those two. I might go visit them later. Now, what are you three doing here, specifically?" The question she asked emphasized that she already knew that there are other worlds.

Kairi stood a bit straighter as the knives went away. "Um, well... On this world exactly, we're not sure. Our mission is to find the new Princess of Heart, but so far nothing. Us being at your hut, we're not sure. We followed those tiny light creatures here."

"Ah, Will O' Wisps. Mischievous little creatures, aren't they. Follow me."

She motioned them outside, following her. She pointed towards another path, and the group saw the wisps again.

"There they are!" exclaimed Donald excitingly. He and Goofy ran towards them.

"Follow the wisps, and you'll find your princess." advised the witch

"Thank you!" Kairi gave a quick bow, before running towards her friends. Then the witch remembered something.

"Oh, wait! Oh dear, what was that advice I was going to give her?" She mumbled as she walked back into her cottage.

"Hm? Did you say something ma'am?" asked Goofy when he turned around. But when he did, he was shocked to find something missing.

"She's gone!"

Kairi and Donald turned around to see that Goofy was right. The witch and her cottage was gone.

Donald was confused. "Where did she go?"

They looked around for the cottage, but it vanished into thin air. Kairi sighed, upset and now realizing that she forgot to ask about this world's princess. A wisp suddenly appeared in front of her, as if reminding her about her mission. She remembered what the witch said.

"The witch said 'Follow the wisps and you'll find you're princess.' They'll lead us back here if we need to." she suggested. The other two nodded and all three proceeded to follow the wisps into the forest.

Meanwhile...

Merlin and Yen Sid were having a cup of tea, while discussing what Riku and Kairi were doing, when the room suddenly darkened. Thinking they were being attacked by some dark force, the wizards summoned their magic. Then a puff of smoke appeared over the desk, revealing the old witch's face.

"Merlin, you old coot! How dare you send your student to disturb my work and give me a fright!" she yelled at him

"Old coot?! You, my dear, are much older that I am, you old bat!" Merlin retorted back.

The old witch gasped. "How dare you! Why I oughta-"

Yen Sid raised his hand, stopping the argument from progressing.

"By student, do you mean a girl named Kairi?" he asked

"Aye, the red haired lass. Along with a duck and a dog. Wot are they doing in a place like this?"

"I've sent her on a mission to keep her mind occupied, but still has importance. I apologize if they caused any harm."

"Och, no trouble. She just reminded me of another lass I met earlier."

"You didn't try selling Kairi, Donald or Goofy your so-called bear obsessive carvings, did you?" mocked Merlin

Yen Sid chuckled as the two bicker between each other.

"You shouldn't have said that." pointed out Donald

"Said what?" asked Kairi, knowing what he was going to say.

"About what you said about Merlin!"

"It was the only thing I could think of. She had an accent similar to him and was able to perform magic similar to him as well. So I thought they would know each other. And it turns out, she does, and Master Yen Sid."

"It doesn't matter. You're not suppose to tell people that you're from another world."

"Donald's right." agreed Goofy. "We have to protect the world border."

"Order!" corrected Donald. Kairi and Goofy giggled.

The trio continued to followed the wisps, along with taking out any Heartless that attacks them. Eventually, they got to a clearing, surrounded by tall stones erected in a circle. The path of wisps, disappeared again.

"Aw, not again!" complained Donald

"Where'd they go this time?" questioned Goofy

Kairi noticed something run behind one of the stone pillars, with Heartless following it. She quickly summoned her Keyblade and took chase, Donald and Goofy quickly followed her. After defeating them, the group saw no sign of who or what the Heartless was chasing.

"What was the Heartless chasing? I don't see anyone." said Kairi

"Maybe they managed to get away safely," replied Goofy

"That's good." She leaned back on a rock that was nearby, and began to wonder what to do next, when she realized how warm the rock was. "Huh?" She touched the rock again, and this time it slightly moved, startling her enough to jump back. "Hey guys..."

The trio watched as the "rock" became taller and taller, until it turned around, revealing its true nature. It was a huge black bear.

"B-b-b..." stammered Donald

"B-b-b-b..." repeated Goofy

"Bear!" screamed Kairi

The frightened three quickly re-summoned their weapons. The bear, who also seemed to be frightened, tried to run away, but tripped over its own feet. As it struggled to stand up again, Kairi noticed it was having trouble. That was very strange for a she could say anything, an arrow came flying out of nowhere, hitting the ground between them and the bear.

"Step away from the bear!"

Coming out from behind a tree, a young girl with curly red hair, wielding a bow and arrow. She pointed the arrow as the group as she got between them and the bear.

"Who are you?" the girl asked suspiciously. "And what do you want?"

Kairi gulped. "I'm Kairi, and this is Donald and Goofy. We don't want to hurt anyone."

"Good, now awa'n bile your head, you."

The bear got angry and growled at the girl. Kairi hoped that the bear wasn't going to hurt her, but it looked like it was scolding her.

"Ach, mom! How else are we going to get them to leave?"

"Mom?" questioned Goofy, confused.

It took a few seconds to realize to whom the girl was talking to.

"WHAT?!"

"That bear is your mother?" asked Kairi, who at the moment was very confused. Donald and Goofy was too. They looked between the bear and the girl.

"Yes." The girl answered as she drew back her bow. Kairi saw that she was preparing to shoot another arrow at them.

"W-wait! Like I said, we don't want to hurt anyone, I assure you. We're just... not from around here. So why don't you introduce yourself first before you shoot at us. It's quite rude you know."

Goofy and Donald looked at each other in confusion. Even Kairi didn't know what the heck she was saying. But it seem to work, because the bear seemed to agree with her. It nudged the girl and nodded her head.

"Mom!" complained the girl

The bear growled at her and motioned her paws as if instructing the girl to introduce themselves.

"Augh! Fine!" The girl brought down her bow and put away her arrow. "My name is Merida, and this," she pointed to the bear, "is my mother, Queen Elinor." Queen Elinor presented herself in an upright manner.

"Queen?!" The trio proclaimed. Both Merida and Elinor nodded in conformation.

The trio looked at the two in shock.

"Hey, if she's a queen, then that means you're a princess." Goofy pointed out. Merida groaned, but nodded.

"You sure," doubted Donald. Kairi wasn't too sure herself, but she felt something coming from Merida, but didn't know what.

'This must be the princess the witch told us we meet.'

"Wait, if she the queen, how'd she turn into a bear in the first place?" questioned Goofy

Everyone looked at Merida.

"Don't look at me! A witch turned my mom into a bear. It's not my fault." explained Merida

"A witch?" questioned Donald

"We just met a witch down that a way." Goofy pointed down the path behind him.

"Ah, yes! Thank you! See, I told you we were going the right way." cheered Merida. She began rushing down the path, with her mother following her.

"Wait! I don't know if she's there anymore!" Kairi yelled to them, but they didn't hear her. The three ran after mother and daughter and managed to catch up to them. "Wait! Is it okay if we go with you?"

Merida stopped and shrugged her shoulders. "Why not. You helped us find the path to the witch. As long as you don't scare my mother again." Elinor growled in agreement.

"Deal."

As they walked back to the witch's cottage, Kairi attempted to befriend Merida.

"So, why did a witch curse your mom in the first place?" she asked

"Was she a bad mom or was the witch bad?" questioned Donald

"I don't think so. Neither of them look mean. Plus, the with know Merlin and Master Yen Sid. She must be a good person." mention Goofy

Merida pulled on her hair. "I didn't ask the witch to change my mom into a bear. I just wanted her to change. So that I can change my fate."

That got Kairi's attention. "Your fate?"

"Yes. Three allied clans came to our kingdom. Apparently, I was supposed to get married to one of the winning clan's first born son."

"Married?"

"You married?" Donald laughed, until Merida's glare shut him up.

"Yes, but it was my mom's idea! Not mine! We got into a huge fight, I ran away and met the witch when I got lost in the forest."

"And you got her to change your mom into a bear?" asked Kairi

Elinor glared at Merida.

"Well, I didn't know she was going to give me a gammy spell that changed you into a bear! I wanted to change your mind about the stupid marriage!"

As Merida and Elinor argued, or at least tried to, Kairi thought about what Merida said.

'She wanted to change her fate, but in doing so, she ended up making it worse by turning her mother into a bear.' She thought back to when the Guardians of Light were defeated by the Heartless swarm in the Keyblade Graveyard. 'After we were defeated, Sora managed to change our fates too, but...' She remembered watching Sora fade before her eyes, smiling at her. 'If he hadn't, I wouldn't be here right now. Neither would Riku, Donald, Goofy or anyone else. I know I'm being selfish by wishing it was different, but..."

She looked to her side, seeing Merida stopped arguing with her mother and was now staring intensely at her.

"GAH!" She yelped

"Let me guess," Merida leaned in closer to Kairi. "You're one of those types..."

"W-what types?"

"Ones that actually want to get married. Am I right?"

"Eh?" Kairi's face instantly went red. Merida, Donald and Goofy struggled to hold in their laughter, but Merida failed.

"Hahaha! Look at your face! It's redder than my hair!" she laughed

Goofy and Donald ended up laughing alongside her.

"You're right. It's bright red." chuckled Goofy

"Guess we know who's she thinking about!" teased Donald

"H-Hey!" Kairi pouted, trying to hide her blushing.

Elinor gently nudged her, as if comforting her. Suddenly, she sniffed the air. She pushed past the others, as she followed the scent.

"Mom?"

"Follow her!"

They all followed Elinor until she suddenly stopped. Amazingly, she led them straight back to the witch's cottage. Walking up to the door, Kairi knocked, but no one answered. She opened the door, only to be greeted by an empty room.

"Huh?!"

"What's wrong, Kairi?" asked Donald

"The witch isn't here!"

"What?!" Merida brushed past Kairi and looked inside. She opened and closed the door three times, hoping it was only a trick. "No, no, no! She was here! I know she was!"

"I wonder where she went?" questioned Goofy

As they went inside, Merida set off a Rube Goldberg machine. They watched as the machine perform its duty. Nearly done, Donald yelped when a knife nearly hit his feathers. The machines stopped after it dropped a potion into a cauldron. A ghostly image of the witch appeared above the cauldron.

"Welcome to the Crafty Carvers, home of bear carvings and novelties! I am completely out of stock at the time, but if you like to inquire about a portrait or wedding cake toppers, pour vial one."

Donald was interested in that and reached for the vial, but Kairi slapped his hand away.

"If you like a bedouin garlic, vial two. If you're those red hair lasses, vial three."

Kairi and Merida realized that was them and Merida quickly grabbed and poured vial three.

The witch explained that she left for a festival in Stoneleigh and wouldn't be back until next spring. She also explained that by the day after tomorrow, the spell will be permanent. But the witch gave them a hint to prevent it from happening.

"Fate be changed, look inside. Mend the bond, torn by pride."

"Fate be changed? Mend the bond? What does that mean?" questioned Merida, frustrated.

"I think it's some kind of riddle." suggested Goofy

The witch repeated the clue to Merida, before turning to Kairi. "Oh, Miss Kairi, I almost forgot. I've heard your tale from Yen Sid, so let me give you some advice. To find what was lost, follow your light. Discover the truth, hidden from sight."

"What?" whispered Kairi

The witch repeated the advice again. "Well, ta-ta! Oh, and thank you for shopping at the Crafty Carver!" With those final words, the ghostly image disappear.

"What? No, no, wait!"

Merida took one of the vials and quickly poured it into the cauldron. The witch's image appeared again, but spoke a different message instead. Kairi began doing the same and both girls ended up pouring all the vials into the cauldron in a panic. When they finally stopped, the cauldron began to shudder and shake, as the witch's messages began to speak faster and faster. As everyone stepped back, the cauldron got brighter. Elinor managed to shield everyone, just before the cauldron exploded, destroying the whole cottage.

After the explosion, it began to rain. The group quickly built a makeshift shelter from the remains of the cottage.

"Well, now what do we do?" asked Donald

Everyone was silent.

"We'll sort it out tomorrow." answered Merida "For now, we get some sleep."

As everyone slept, Kairi stared out into the rain, thinking about the message given to her.

'To find what was lost, follow your light. Discover the truth, hidden from sight. But what does that even mean? I get the first part, following my light to find Sora. But what about the second? What truth is suppose to be hidden? Is it a secret?'

She continued to think on this, until she eventually fell asleep.

[Flashback]

_Kairi laid in her bed of her newly adopted home. But she couldn't sleep. For the past few nights since she first arrived at Destiny Islands, she's been unable to sleep. She would lie awake in her bed, thinking that there were monsters hiding in the dark. She would usually be found crying and was becoming more cranky. _

_One night, Sora's mom brought him over for a sleepover, hoping that that would help. After they went to bed, Sora heard Kairi crying. He got out of his sleeping bag, and went over to her bedside._

_"Kairi, what's wrong?"_

_Kairi sniffed. I'm scared. I'm afraid a monster gonna come out and get me."_

_"There aren't any monsters, Kairi."_

_"Yes there are."_

_"No there not."_

_"Yes there are!"_

_Seeing how scared his friend is, Sora got into her bed and gently took her hand._

_"Don't worry Kairi. I'll make sure those monsters won't hurt you."_

_She looked at him, teary eyed. "Promise?"_

_Sora grinned. "I promise."_

_Kairi watched as Sora soon went to sleep, with herself following soon after. For the first time since she arrived at Destiny Islands, Kairi had a peaceful sleep._

"Kairi?"

"Kairi."

"Kairi!"

Kairi opened her eyes to see Donald and Goofy looking at her, seeing that they succeeded at waking her up.

"Good morning Kairi," greeted Goofy

"Morning," she yawned. She sat up and stretched her arms before noticing that Merida and Elinor weren't there. "Where's Merida and the queen?"

Goofy pointed towards a nearby creek. "They went off to find some breakfast down by the creek. We decided to wait for you, since you were still sleeping."

"Yeah, it's a good thing you missed breakfast," Donald chuckled, remembering how Elinor reacted from accidentally eating poison berries and wormy water. "I didn't know you were such a heavy sleeper."

"Not usually." she responded. "Why? What I miss?"

Suddenly, they heard yelling and roaring. They raced to the creek and found dozens of Heartless, but Merida or Elinor were nowhere to be found. Kairi noticed that a few of the Heartless had arrows in them, letting her know that Merida was able to fight back. The three summoned their weapons and defeated the Heartless. Once they did, they went to look for them.

"Merida!"

"Queen Elinor!"

They found Merida and Elinor, but noticed that something was wrong. As they came closer, Elinor growled at them. She began to charged forward to attack them, but suddenly stops when realizes what she's doing.

"Mom?"

"Queen Elinor?"

"Y-You changed! Like you were... I mean, like... an actual bear." Merida turned to the trio. "We have to find a way to change my mom back. Please tell me your magic is able to fix this."

The three shook their heads.

"Sorry. I don't think our magic is able to do something like this." answered Kairi. "Maybe Merlin's or Master Yen Sid's magic is able to."

Donald shook his head."We can't either way."

"Why not?" asked Kairi

"Why not, you stupid duck?!" yelled Merida

"Hey!"

"I think it's because of who cast the curse." suggested Goofy. "We hear it from Genie. Only those who cast the curse can break it, and since the witch isn't here anymore, I guess only Merida can break the curse."

"She did give you a clue." Donald mentioned

"But I don't even know what the clue even means! What did you think that I-"

Merida stopped talking and everyone looked in the direction where she was looking. It was a wisp.

"Hey! Go away! You caused enough trouble!" yelled Donald. He tried to shoo it away, only for it to disappear again. It appeared again, and a trail of wisps appeared behind it. The group looked at each other, then at the line of wisps.

With no other option, they decided to follow the wisps. As they did, fog slowly crept around them, making the area around them creepy and spooky.

"Where do you think they're taking us?" asked Kairi

"I don't know. I just hope that they take us someplace that can help my mom." replied Merida

They continued walking when Kairi spoke up again.

"Hey Merida, how'd you know where the witch was in the first place?"

"I did what we're doing now. Following the wisps. According to legend, they have the ability to change one's fate."

"Change your fate?"

"Yep. Follow them, and change your fate, for better or for worse."

Kairi watched as each step they took, a wisps disappeared. It was like following a path of light.

"So, anything was better than getting married?"

"Yes! If you had the chance to change your fate, wouldn't you take it?"

"Maybe..." Merida stopped talking and looked at her. "My friends and I ended up fighting an enemy in a big battle. I was... defeated, and the person I care for so much, sacrificed himself to save me." Kairi tighten her grip in order to stop her hands from shaking. "I felt... really useless after that. If I was given the chance to change that person's fate, I would most definitely take it. Maybe when I first saw the witch, I should have asked her same wish you did."

"Well, unless you wanted that special person to end up turning into a bear, then maybe not." Merida joked, which Kairi giggled to. "Don't worry about what you didn't do, or what you weren't able to do, at least you were brave enough to fight alongside him right? I don't think he'll think you're useless."

Kairi realized that Merida was right,but before she could say something, Goofy pointed through the fog.

"Hey, look!" he called out

The trail of wisps ended near ruins of an ancient castle. As they passed the gateway arch, they noticed the emblem had two axes that crossed each other.

"Why did the wisps bring us here?" questioned Kairi.

"Don't know." replied Merida

They walked around and explored the ruins a bit, but saw no signs of life.

"Whoever they were, they been gone for long tim-" Merida and Kairi screamed as they suddenly fell through the weakened floor.

"Kairi!" yelled Donald and Goofy. They and Elinor ran over to the hole and called out to them.

"Kairi!"

"Merida!"

Elinor could only moaned, hoping the girls were alright.

Bruised, but not seriously hurt, the girls slowly got up.

"We're fine, guys! Fine!" shouts Merida

"We're not hurt!" Kairi calls back

They look around the empty room.

"Where are we?" asked Kairi

"It's a... throne room." Merida replies. As they look around, Merida turns to her mother. "Do you suppose this could have been the kingdom in that story you were telling me? The one with the princes?"

"What story?"

"My mom told me this story, before the suitors arrived. Once there was an ancient kingdom, ruled by a wise and fair king. And when he grew old, he divided the kingdom between his four sons. But the oldest wanted to rule by himself. He followed his own path, and the kingdom fell."

"That's horrible."

"Gee, he sounds like a scary person." whispered Goofy, Donald nodding in agreement.

Kairi noticed a stone carving by the steps of the four thrones.

"Hey, Merida," she called over. Merida went over to where Kairi was and looked at the stone carving.

"What is it?" Kairi asked

"I think it's a portrait of the princes." Merida noticed that the stone is split between the third and fourth figure. "One, two, three, four." Her hand landed on the fourth figure, split from the other three. "The oldest." That's when she realized something. "Split... like the tapestry!"

"What tapestry?"

"My mom made this tapestry of our family. Before I ran off, we got into a fight, and ended up ripping the tapestry with my sword. Splitting her from me. The spell! It happened before!"

"It did? To who?"

Merida looked around to see the bone remains of the castle last inhabitants surrounding them and remembers what the witch said about the prince who also bought a spell to change his fate.

"The strength of ten men. Fate be changed. Changed...his fate..."

Then she realized what happened to the prince. "Oh no! The prince became..."

"Uh,... Merida?" interrupted Kairi, pointed behind Merida in fear.

Merida turned around to see the said being coming up from behind her.

"Mor'du!"

Mor'du was also a bear, like Elinor, but was practically a giant compared to her. A closer look revealed a disfigured lower jaw, a glowing yellow eye and a dead red eye.

Elinor roared and Donald and Goofy yelled the girls to run.

Mor'du stood up, roared and goes to attack the girls. As soon as her did, Merida immediately shot an arrow at him.

"Run!" she screamed, dragging the stunned Kairi. They bolted to escape the evil beast. As they ran towards the thrones, Kairi cast a Fire spell at the monster, to no effect. Mor'du crashed into the thrones, destroying two of them. Merida pulls Kairi out of the way in time, to avoid being crushed. But as they dodged, they fell down on some of the ruin stones. Merida quickly notice that she lost her arrows, while the Keyblade fell out of Kairi's hands and disappeared. Neither of the girls had time to look for their lost objects. They quickly got up as Mor'du began chasing them again. Mor'du pounced onto the girls but they managed to dodge again. Merida saw that some of the ruins were high enough to reach the top, if they climbed quickly enough.

"Up there!" The girls scrambled up the ruins, Mor'du hot on their trail. Elinor held out her paw, to pull them to safety. But as they reached the top, neither of them could reach the other. With Mor'du coming closer, Kairi came up with an idea.

"Jump!" The girls jumped for Elinor's paw, just as Mor'du slashed at them. They managed to cling onto Elinor, as Donald and Goofy quickly pulled them up. Mor'du growled in anger, giving chase. He broke through the ceiling, nearly grabbing Merida. Thinking quickly, Elinor got behind a pillar of stones and pushed them, causing them to collapse on top of Mor'du. Everyone managed to dodge the rocks as they hit Mor'du, causing him to fall back into the throne room. They all ran for their lives, finding themselves back to the Ring of Stones, where they struggled to catch their breath.

"Who..." Kairi struggled to say in between breaths. "What... was that?"

"That... was Mor'du. An evil bear that was once the eldest prince of the story I told you." spoke Merida. Everyone was shocked by what she informed them.

"That was the prince?" asked Goofy fearfully

"Yes," Merida turns to Elinor. "Mom, we need to get you back to the castle. If we don't hurry, you'll become like Mor'du! A real bear! Forever!"

"What's at the castle?" asked Donald

"The tapestry! The witch practically gave us the answer! If I fix the tapestry, my mom should be able to turn back to normal!"

The group headed back to the castle, which still contained Merida's suitors and their clans, as well as dozens of Merida's clan own guards. Elinor led them down to a tunnel underneath the bridge. As Elinor struggled to take the bars off, Merida turned to Kairi.

"Kairi, why don't you and your friends stay out here?"

"What? Why?"

"It's not that I don't trust you guys, but we can't have too many people coming in. I already got my mom, who's a bear, sneaking in here." Elinor broke the bars off the tunnel entrance. "Look, if you're still worried, sneak by the Great Hall later and keep watch, so we can get out later. We'll be back before you know it." Merida reassured Kairi before going into the tunnel.

As the three waited outside, Goofy turned to Kairi. "Hey Kairi, I never got a chance to ask ya. Why did you freeze up when you were fighting the Heartless earlier?"

"What do you mean?"

"When we first got here." mentioned Donald

Kairi sat on the ground and was silent for a few minutes.

"I don't know," she finally answered. "I guess, I'm still remembering the battle against Xehanort. I'm actually fine with fighting the Heartless, but... I keep thinking back to when Sora was turned into a Heartless. What if we find him and he ended turning into something like that, and I don't recognize him? What if I end up attacking him?"

"Hmmm..." Goofy thought for a second. "Gee, if Sora was turned into a Heartless again, wouldn't that mean Roxas would become a Nobody again?"

"Or Sora made another Nobody?" questioned Donald "Either way, he's not that dumb to be turned into a Heartless again, is he?"

Kairi realized their point and giggled. "Maybe you're right. I'm probably overthinking it."

Goofy sat next to her. "Don't worry. We all know you're worried about him. We are too."

"Yeah! We'll find him again!" agreed Donald

Kairi smiled. "Thanks. I can see why Sora considers you two of his closest friends."

As Donald and Goofy smiled at each other, Kairi made a small frown, hoping that they don't see the lie she told them.

Suddenly, they heard a huge commotion coming from the Great Hall.

"What's going on in there?" questioned Donald

Kairi tried to look, but the windows were too high. "Donald, Goofy, give me a lift." The duo did as she said, and she sat on Donald's shoulders, while he sat on Goofy's.

"Hurry up! You're heavy!" complained Donald

"Hey! Don't call a girl heavy!"

She grabbed onto the window ledge, and pulled herself up, until she stood on Donald's shoulders. Ignoring his complaints, Kairi leaned forward to see inside the Great Hall, where dozens of men were squaring off against each other. She sees Merida in the middle of the room, but doesn't see the queen. She also sees a man standing behind Merida, and guesses that is her father. Kairi saw that Merida was talking and she leaned forward to listen. She realized that is was the same story she told them.

As she listen to Merida's speech, Kairi looked back to the memories of her recent adventures. "Our kingdom is young. Our stories not yet legends. But in them, are bonds we struck. Our clans were once enemies. But when invaders threatened us from the sea, you joined together to defend our lands. You fought for each other. You risked everything for each other. The story of this kingdom is a powerful one. My dad rallied your forces and you made him your king. It was an alliance forged in bravery and friendship."

She thought of her friends, of Axel, who once kidnapped her and Saix, who held her hostage against Sora. She thought of Xehanort and Organization XIII and fought against them alongside the Guardians of Light. She thought of her and Sora sitting next to each other for the last time.

"But I've... been selfish." Merida confessed that the divide between the clans was her fault and she's sorry for the trouble she's caused. "And so, there is the matter of my betrothal. I've decided to do what's right and... and..." Kairi noticed that Merida was stammering her words. "And... break... tradition... My mother... the queen..., feels... in her heart... that I, that we be free to... write our own stories. Follow our hearts, and find love in our own time."

Kairi lowered herself from the ledge, putting more weight on Donald. "May our hearts, be our guiding key." she whispered, remembering hearing the phrase from Aqua.

"What's going on in there?" whispered Donald, breaking Kairi out of her thoughts.

"Merida just stopped her suitor's clans from fighting each other." she answered. She climbed down the two, and Donald jumped off Goofy's shoulders. "Let's meet them back at the tunnel entrance in the courtyard."

As the trio waited by the secret entrance, they later heard another commotion, this time louder and angrier. They hid behind the well, looked and saw Elinor run past them. Soon after, the four clans were chasing after her. The three were horrified at the sight.

"What happened?"

Through all the noise, Goofy managed to hear something. He lifted his head, only for Donald to pull his head back down.

"Keep your head down!"

"But I think I hear something."

Kairi listened for a second, then nodded her head. "I think Goofy's right. I hear something too."

They all listen closely, now that it was a bit more quiet with the clans gone, they heard someone call Kairi, Donald and Goofy.

"Merida!" Kairi raced out of their hiding spot, luckily without anyone seeing her, and ran to where the yelling was coming from. Donald and Goofy followed close behind.

"Kairi! Donald! Goofy!" They yelling was coming from the higher window on the upper floor.

"Merida!" yelled Kairi

"Kairi!" Kairi looked up to see Merida's arm waving out of the window. "Listen! You have to protect my mom! She went wild again, and my father caught us! If you don't stop him, he'll kill her!"

"But what about you?!"

"I'll catch up, just go!"

Not seeing any other option, the three ran after the men. They ran as fast as they could, struggling to keep up with the men. Out of nowhere, Heartless suddenly appeared, surrounding them.

"Not now!" They summoned their weapons and attacked the Heartless. But by the time they finished, the hunting party was nowhere to be found.

"Now what?"

"Look!" Goofy pointed to a wisp, floating nearby. A line of them appeared behind the first one.

Kairi realized they were leading them towards the hunting party.

"Follow them!"

They followed the wisps, while they kept being attacked by more Heartless. Soon they found the hunting party, along with Elinor who was captured and tied to the ground. Fergus, her husband and Merida's father, who does not know that Elinor is the bear, raised his sword to kill her.

"QUEEN ELINOR!"

The three raced over towards them. Kairi, faster the the two, summoned her keyblade and blocked Fergus's attack. Goofy and Donald came up next to her, their weapons also out, keeping the other men from coming near her.

"What the? Who are you? Are you out of your mind lass?" questioned Fergus

Kairi, with all her strength, pushed the large man back. She stepped back to defend Elinor from any other attacks. "Queen Elinor, are you alright?"

While she was distracted, Fergus, pushed the three out of the way, and goes to kill Elinor again. But this time, Merida came in riding on a horse, jumping off of it to snatch a sword from one of the men and stopping her father.

Fergus was shocked to see his daughter stopping him. "Merida!"

She pushed him back, catching him off guard and cut a part of his peg leg, causing him to fall.

"I will not let you kill my mother!" she glared at him.

"Merida!" Kairi, Goofy, and Donald cheered

"Are you guys alright?"

Suddenly, three baby black bears came out from behind Merida, and began jumping on Fergus.

"Boys!"

The baby bears heard her and quickly got off Fergus. "Boys?!"

"Boys?" questioned the group

"My brothers. They nibbled on the same cake that turned my mom into a bear." The bears crowded around Merida and looked at the group with curiosity in their eyes.

Kairi gave a tiny squealed. "They're so cute!"

Suddenly, a loud stomp was heard. Everyone looked behind them. It was Mor'du, coming out of the forest.

"Mor'du!"

"Kill it!" yells Fergus. The other clans attack the monstrous bear, but with just a few swipes, Mor'du knocked them all away. Fergus managed to get a few hits in, but he too was quickly defeated. Kairi, Donald and Goofy even tried, but was quickly thrown to the side. Merida managed to shoot a few arrows into him, which got his attention. When she goes to shoot again, Mor'du slaps the bow and arrow out of her hands, causing her to stumble and fall back. As Mor'du towered over Merida and roared at her, she screamed in fear.

"Merida!" screamed Kairi. She quickly got up and shot a Fire spell at the bear.

Elinor roared in anger as she freed herself from her bonds. She attacks Mor'du, after being distracted and hit with the Fire spell, and fights him, as she defends her daughter.

Everyone watched in a mixture of fear and awe as the two bears fought each other. Even so, it looked like Mor'du was winning. He threw Elinor against one of the stone pillars and it cracks on impact. Elinor noticed this, before turning her attention back onto Mor'du, who was again heading towards Merida. As he advances toward her, Merida quickly grabbed a nearby spear, while Kairi joined her side As Mor'du got close to attack them, Elinor grabbed him and struggled to pull him back towards the cracked pillar. He attempted to attack her, but she dodged his headbutt, causing the pillar to crack again. She got in front of him, and began shoving and hitting him against the pillar, repeatedly. The crack on the pillar got bigger and bigger. When Elinor saw the now large crack, it distracted her long enough for Mor'du to push her away. She fell to her side next to the two girls. They looked back to see Mor'du beginning to charge at them again. Just as he did, the cracked stone pillar fell on top of him, crushing the bear's body. As the dust slowly settled, a bright blue light came from the bear, revealing a ghostly figure. It was the oldest prince. He looked at the girls before nodding in thanks. The prince's ghost turned into a wisp before disappearing.

During that small moment of silence, Goofy noticed the sky was starting to get brighter. "Kairi!"

Kairi looked at him and he pointed towards the sky. It was dawn. Kairi remembered the curse. "Merida! The tapestry!"

Merida noticed the sun was rising and ran to get the mended tapestry. She grabbed it and threw it over her mother. She stepped back, expecting a sudden change, but nothing happened. Soon, Elinor ends up fully turning into a bear, with no memory of her family.

"Oh, no! I don't understand. I..." Merida ends up breaking down in front of her mother. "Oh, mom. I'm sorry. This... this is all my fault. I did this to you, to us." she cried. Elinor sniffs Merida as she cries. Merida got closer and gave her mother a hug. "You were always been there for me. You never given up on me. I just need you back." Elinor blankly stared as her daughter spoke to her. "I want you back mommy."

Kairi struggled to keep herself from crying. This was like when she watched Sora disappeared. She wasn't able to do anything to stop it.

As the sun washed over them, Merida whispered, "I love you." to Elinor.

Kairi then felt a warm feeling coming from Merida. She looked up at them again and her eyes widen from shock.

"Donald! Goofy! Look!"

It was Queen Elinor. The true Queen Elinor in her human form. She gently rubs her daughter's hair as she cries. Merida took quick notice of this and raised her head to see her mother smiling at her.

"Mom! You're back!" Elinor laughs as she hugs and kisses her daughter multiple times. "You've changed!"

"Oh, darling. We both have." she replied as she kisses Merida on the forehead.

"Elinor!" Fergus runs to his wife, happy to see that she is alright. He trips, but still gives Merida and Elinor both a hug. The three bears, now three naked boys ran to their mother and father, laughing. Kairi smiled at the happy family as they celebrated.

As everyone prepared to head back to the castle, Merida ran over and gave Kairi a big hug. "Thank you so much!" She did the same to Donald and Goofy, practically squeezing ll of them.

"Huh? But, we barely did anything." said Kairi

Merida chuckled. "You protected me and my mom from the Heartless, prevented us from being killed twice, and stopped my father from killing my mom. How could you not say you helped us."

Elinor came up to them and gave them each a kiss. "Thank you for reuniting me with my daughter and my family. I hope you'll be able to find your friend. Maybe you'll be able to find that friend sooner that you think."

Kairi's eyes lowered to the ground. "I don't know. The bond me and that person has is different than from the bond between you and Merida."

"Who says?" Kairi looked at the Queen, who frowned. "The bond my daughter and I share, is the same one you and your friend share. Just because we're different people, doesn't mean the bonds we share are different. Follow your heart, and you'll know I'm right." Elinor chuckled. "Besides, I bet he's expecting a big kiss from you, am I right?"

Kairi's face instantly turned red.

"K-kiss?"

They all laughed as Kairi attempted to hide her blushing cheeks.

As the three walked back to the Gummi Ship, Donald realized something. "Hey! We forgot to ask Merida if she was a Princess of Heart!"

"But she was a princess." replied Goofy, "Plus, we never asked the other princesses if they were Princesses of Heart."

"Ariel was a princess, but she wasn't a Princess of Heart." Donald pointed out.

"Your right, but still... What do you think Kairi? Kairi?" The two turned around to see that Kairi was gone.

"Kairi?"

"Kairi!"

Unbeknownst to them, as they were talking, Kairi spotted a wisp nearby. When they weren't looking, Kairi ran over to it.

"Hey, little guy." she greeted as she knelt in front of it. "Thank you for the help earlier. We really appreciate it." She leaned in closer to gently tap on it's unseen nose, but it disappeared. It quickly reappeared and again a line followed after the first. "You want me to follow you again?" She looked back to Donald and Goofy who continued to walk away, and proceeded to follow the wisps. Each step she took, she watches each wisp disappear, until they led her to a small open area. When she looked up, her eyes widen in shock. A light, bluish figure stood before her.

"S-Sora?" The figure heard her and turned around, proving her right. He smiled at her, she instantly knew that it wasn't another wisps. Kairi shakily took a step towards him, then another. When she got close, she reached out her hand to touch him.

"Kairi!"

Kairi turned around, hearing Goofy and Donald calling her. When she turned back to Sora, he was gone. She covered her mouth, struggling to keep herself from crying. She noticed a wisp nearby, staring at her. She wiped her eyes and gave it a small smile.

"Thank you."

Unknown and unseen by anyone, a lone hooded figure stood in the center of the stone pillars. That person held out their hand and a collection of the world's remaining darkness formed in their hand.

"The darkness of Pride, collected."

The darkness disappeared as they lowered their hand.

"May you heart, be your guiding key."


	3. Land of Departure

**Author's note: Hello everyone! I apologize for updating the story so late. I know the events of ReMind has already been released, so I will try to include them into the story.**

As the Gummiship traveled through space, Kairi cheered over her first mission.

"My first mission! That was great!"

"Congratulations, Kairi!" Goofy grinned. "I bet you're excited to tell Riku and the others."

"Uh-huh, but I don't want to tell them on the Gummiphone. I figured it would be better to tell them in person."

"Are you sure?" asked Donald. "You don't want to just call?"

Kairi shook her head. "This is too important to say on the phone. This was our first mission together and we kicked butt!"

From the corner of her eye, Kairi noticed a world they passed. It was a castle with chains connected to mountains.

"Hey, what's that world we just passed?"

"That's the Land of Departure. It used to be a place called Castle Oblivion." Goofy answered

"Who lives there?"

Jiminy jumped on Kairi's shoulder. "Aqua, Terra and Ventus do. It's their home."

"Aqua?" Kairi's interest instantly rose up when she heard the Keyblade master's name. "Let's go there!"

"I don't think that's a good idea, Kairi." Jiminy hesitated

"Why not?"

"Well, they could be busy with something important." Goofy speculated

"Like what? Maybe we could give them some help." she suggested

"No way! We need to find the next princess." Donald insisted as he stepped on the gas.

"Come on! Please?" Kairi gave out her best puppy dog eyes on him. Donald tried to ignore it, but after a few seconds, instantly fell for it.

"Alright." Donald reluctantly agreed

"Yay!" Kairi cheered as Donald turned the ship around and headed for the Land of Departure.

Land of Departure

The Gummiship landed on the ground and Kairi practically raced out of the ship. She looked at the castle in amazement. The tall tower stood in all its shining glory, with the spires pointing up towards the blue sky. The castle wings held their own against the pushing winds, which shook the chains connected to the mountains.

"Wow." Kairi whispered. "It's beautiful."

"You should have seen it when it was Castle Oblivion." said Goofy

"Have you guys ever been here before?" she asked as they climbed up the stairs.

"Yeah, when we were rescuing Ven!" exclaimed Donald

"What about when it was Castle Oblivion?"

"You mean before it was transformed back into Land of Departure." Goofy asked

"Yeah. Have you ever been inside Castle Oblivion?"

She turned around to them when she didn't hear a response. "Guys?"

"I feel like we have been here before," Goofy scratched his head "but I don't remember."

"Me either." Donald agreed

"Same here. I wonder if it has anything to do with my first journal being blank." Jiminy wondered.

"Really? What happened?" Kairi knocked on the door, and waited for someone to answer.

"I don't know. Somewhere along the while searching for Riku and the King, my first journal became blank. I don't remember how it got like that."

"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll find out what happened." Kairi realized that no one opened the door. She knocked on the door again. "Hello? Aqua?"

Another few seconds of silence.

"Oh well, no one's home." Donald said quickly, relieved that no one answered. "Let's go."

Disappointed, Kairi followed them down a few steps, the door behind them slowly opened. The four watched as the door got wider before it stopped. Kairi went up to the door.

"Hello?" she called out, but got no answer.

"M-Maybe we should come back later." stuttered Goofy

"Someone opened the door when we answered. We should see who." replied Kairi, heading inside. Donald and Goofy followed her.

The three walked up the stairs to the throne room, taking in its beauty as well as its silence.

"Aqua?" Kairi called out

"Terra!" Goofy did the same.

"Ven!" Donald yelled.

'If no one's here, then who opened the door?' Kairi thought. She walked over towards the balcony that overlooks the entrance. Suddenly, she noticed a small shadow coming from behind one of the doors. It disappeared when it reached the stairs, with a small poofing sound. She heard the sound again and saw the shadow run down the hall. Not knowing what the shadow was, she decided to follow it.

"It looks like no one's here." Donald concluded

"You're right. Maybe they went off to another world." Goofy suggested

"Then who opened the door?"

"I don't know. What do you think Kairi? Kairi?"

It was then they realized they first lost Kairi.

Kairi was having trouble catching up with the strange shadow. She was surprised on how fast it could run, despite its small size. She went down one hallway, it went down another. Pretty soon, she was beginning to feel like Alice following the White Rabbit. Eventually, she lost track of it.

"Okay, where did you go?"

"What are you looking for Kairi?" Jiminy asked

"I saw something that opened the door, but I still don't know what it was. It could be a 's why I followed it." she answered

"Alright,but... Do you know where you are?"

Kairi realized that she doesn't and scratched her head in embarrassment.

"Oops. I guess it doesn't help that I lost the shadow too." she confessed

Jiminy sighed. "Well, we might as well find a way out."

Just then, they heard a thump. They saw a door was slightly ajar. Kairi went towards the door and peeked inside the crack. She heard more noises and voices.

"Found anything yet?"

"No."

"Nothing."

"There has to be something here…"

Kairi peeked further inside and saw that it was Aqua, Ventus and Terra. They were in a small library, shifting through a multiple of books. Kairi went back behind the door again and knocked on the door. The three looked up from their readings.

"Chirithy?" asked Ven

Kairi came from behind the door. "Hi."

"Kairi!" Aqua quickly got up and went over to hug her. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to pay you guys a visit. I came as soon as me, Donald and Goofy finished our mission."

"You found your first princess? Congratulations." Terra chimed in.

"What was she like?" asked Ven. "Do you think she'll need protection in case Maleficent tries to kidnap her?"

Kairi thought back to Merida fighting the Heartless and Mordu. "I think she'll be fine."

"Where are Donald and Goofy?" Aqua asked

Kairi again realize that she left them behind in the throne room. "Uh, I think they're in the room with three chairs."

"The throne room?" Terra "Give me a second." He walked towards a string attached to the ceiling and pulled on it. Instantly, a trap door opened up above them. Unfortunately, Donald was right on top of it and ended up falling through.

""Whoops, sorry." Terra apologized

"Donald, are you alright?" Goofy asked looking down through the door.

Donald shook his head as he sat up and spotted Kairi standing nearby.

"Kairi! There you are! Where did you go?!" he yelled angrily

"Hehe… sorry."

"What is this place?" asked Goofy as he climbed down.

"It's an old library that hasn't been used in a while." Terra explained, "Most of the books belonged to Master Eraqus."

"I didn't know it had a trap door." spoke Ven

"Me either." Aqua agreed

"Well, like I said, no one has been here in a long time, at least not since I was a kid." Terra said

"What are you guys doing in here anyway? What are you looking for?" asked Kairi

Everyone, excluding Kairi, froze.

"A history book!"

"A textbook!"

"A research book!"

Kairi jumped back by the trio's sudden explanation.

Aqua sighed. "Sorry, what we meant was, we're looking for a book that could tell us about what the worlds were like before Kingdom Hearts disappeared. Ven got interested after seeing a world inside Kingdom Hearts when went to help Sora."

"Hey!" he pouted since Aqua was using him as an excuse.

"Really?" Kairi though for a minute. "I think I know of a story."

"You do?"

"Yeah. My grandmother used to tell me a story when I was little."

Aqua realized what she was talking about.

"Your grandmother's story."

Kairi nodded. She closed her eyes, trying to remember the details of the story.

"Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves. And darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's covered everything and the world disappeared…"

"But small fragments survived… in the hearts of children." Aqua finished. "I remembered that story. Your grandmother told you that story as you were heading home."

"Uh-huh. It was my favorite story and I never got tired of it."

"So what happened next?" Goofy asked

"Ummm… That's as much as I can remember."

"Awwwn." Donald groaned

"Have you ever decided to visit your grandmother?" Aqua asked. "Wouldn't she live in Radiant Garden?"

Kairi shook her head. "Oh, no. It's fine. I don't even know if she's alive or not."

"Well, it helps to look." replied Ven optimistically. "I'll help if you need it."

Aqua ruffled his hair. "Oh no, you're not skipping out on this."

"Aw, come on!" Ven complained, pouting as he wanted to leave the boring research. "Terra, help me out here."

It was only then did they realized that Terra was no longer there.

"Terra?"

"Where'd he go?"

"He was just here."

"Found it!"

Terra came out from behind a bookshelf, holding an old book in his hands.

"What's that?"

"This is an old book my fat- I mean, Master Eraqus read to me when I was still little." He remembered. He turned the pages, until he found the page he was looking for. "Using the remaining fragments of light, the children rebuilt the lost world. The one we live in today. But the worlds would remain separated, as long as the true light of Kingdom Hearts remains in the deepest darkness."

"Wow. Its the same story." Kairi commented

Terra closed the book. "Same story, just written differently."

"How come I never heard of this" Aqua questioned

"Or me?" asked Ven

"Master stopped reading it to me a few years before either a you two came." Terra confessed. "He… used to read it to me as a bedtime story every night."

Aqua giggled when Terra showed a little blush.

"Let's head back to the throne room since we found what we were looking for." Aqua said. They proceeded to do so, and the Wayfinder trio led them back to the throne room.

After closing the trap door and showing Kairi, Donald and Goofy back, Aqua waved her over, hiding something behind her back.

"Kairi, I have something for you." She held out a right sided pauldron, similar to her's and her friends. It was pink with tints of purple near the edges.

"What is it?" she asked

"It's Keyblade armor. I thought you might have a use for it later, so I might show you how to use it. I decided to do the same with the others ever since Xion accidentally summoned her own, So I figure…"

"Aqua!"

Aqua looked over at Terra and Ven. Ven, who was trying not to laugh, while Terra pointed at Kairi, showing Kairi was staring at the Keyblade armor in amazement, not really paying attention to Aqua.

"Kairi? Kairi!" Aqua waved her hand in front of Kairi, breaking her stare."If you like it so much, why don't I show you how it works."

"What happen to your fingers?"

Aqua flinched at her sudden question as Terra overheard it.

"It's nothing. Just a few misses while cooking."

"But…"

"Hey, Ven. Why don't you go show Kairi how the armor works?" Terra interrupted

"But I thought Aqua was going to do it?" Ven asked, confused.

Terra grabbed Ven and began pushing him out along with Donald, Goofy and Kairi out the room and to the entrance.

"He-hey, what about Aqua?"

"I got to talk to Aqua for second. Give us a few minutes." Terra promptly shut the door behind them.

"Did he just kick us out?" questioned Kairi

"I wonder what was so important?" Goofy wondered

"Heheh, sorry about that. He did that before, and I don't know why." Ven chuckled

"Maybe he wanted some alone time." Donald teased, laughing to himself.

"What for?"

"Uh, Ven. Why don't you show me how the armor works." Kairi interrupted, changing the subject.

"Sure. I'll show you where we can practice." Ven showed the way, still wondering what was so important that Terra and Aqua needed to talk about.

Terra came back up the stairs, sighing.

"I don't think you could be any more conspicuous." Aqua giggled at Terra's rushed attempt to get the others to leave. But Terra wasn't smiling. He quickly went over to her, took her hand and led her out of the throne room. They headed towards Terra's room, where he made her sit down on his bed. "Terra, what are you-" She stopped talking when she saw him bring down a small medkit, and realized what he was thinking.

"Terra! I'm fine!" she yelled as she hid her bandaged hands behind her. He knelt in front of her.

"Hands." he ordered

Reluctantly, Aqua held out her hands, revealing her bandaged fingers and palms. Terra took them and saw that they messily dressed.

"This looks like a rush job." he said, as he fixed the bandages.

"Terra, I'm fine." Aqua insisted as he unwrapped the bandages.

"Healing magic may be one of your strong points, but physical healing is not."

"Terra!"

Too late. The unwrapped bandages revealed to them the purple bruises and red scratch marks on her hands and fingers. Aqua took her hand back before Terra could see anymore.

"What happened to your hand?"

"Its fine."

Terra saw how her fingers had tiny, red marks mixed with purple bruises from her scratching and griping her fingers too hard. He noticed her hands were shaking too.

"Aqua, you're a Keyblade master. You should take better care of your hands." he scolded

"I am!" she argued

"Mickey and Riku told me what happened...What you looked liked when they found you in the Realm of Darkness."

Aqua flinched at the remembered memory and held onto her hands tighter. Terra gently took her right hand in his as he attempted to bandage it.

"How long has this been happening?" he asked quietly

"A… a few weeks…"

"Since we been home?"

"No! ...After…"

"Any nightmares?"

Aqua shook her head. Terra smiled, even though he knew she was lying.

"How about this? Instead of gripping your own hands like this, you grip onto mine?"

Aqua looked at him, surprised at his suggestion, as he focused on wrapping the bandages on her fingers.

"You don't have to worry about hurting my hands. They're tougher than yours."

"Is this an excuse, just to hold my hand?"

"No!" he blurted out, looking at her.

Aqua giggled at the sudden lie. She could easily see the blush on Terra's face.

"Thanks, Terra."

Terra smiled as he started working on the other hand.

Ven helped Kairi put on the Keyblade armor, which was slightly different from his. It came in two pieces. One on her upper arm, like Aqua's, and another on her forearm, similar to Terra's. The activation button was on her shoulder, and covered a majority of her forearm.

"It feels weird." she commented. She moved her arm around. "It doesn't feel heavy at all."

"Yeah, its suppose to be light enough so the armor interfere with the wielder's movement." Ven said

"How does it work?" Donald asked

"It's easy. If you want to use it, you have to hit the button on the armor. Watch."

Ven hit the button on his pauldron, and in a flash of light, was covered from head to toe, in armor. The trio wowed in amazement.

"That's so cool." Kairi cheered

"Thanks." Ven put the armor away.

"All right. My turn."

Kairi hit the button on her pauldron, but nothing happened. She hit it again, and nothing happened. Getting frustrated, Kairi kept hitting the button.

"Kairi take it easy! You're going to hurt yourself!" Ven warned

"Maybe we should wait until Aqua's done with Terra. Then she could fix the armor." Goofy suggested

"That seems like the only thing we can do right now." Ven sighed

Kairi wasn't paying attention and continue hitting the armor.

"It's not going to break, is it?" Donald asked

"Don't worry. The armor's really durable. It'll take much more than that to break it. So how did you know we were here?"

"We didn't. We thought one of you opened the door." Goofy answered

Ven shook his head. "I don't think so. All of us were in the library."

"Then who opened the door?" Donald questioned

Jiminy jumped onto Goofy's shoulder. "Kairi said she saw a shadow coming behind the door after it opened."

"A shadow?" Ven realized who opened the door. "Do you mean-"  
A puff of smoke appeared above Ven's head, and a creature landed on his head.

"Ven! There you are!" the creature squeaked.

Ven reached up and took the creature off his head.

"Guys, this is Chirithy." Ven introduced. "Chirithy, this is Donald, Goofy, and…"

Jiminy topped off his hat. "It's a pleasure to meet you Chirithy. I'm Jiminy."

"Hello." Chirithy looked over to where Kairi stopped hitting the armor, and looked at thing in annoyance.

"Oh, that's Kairi. I'll introduce you."

"Kairi?! She's Sora's friend right?" she asked, remembering them from the Final World.

Kairi stopped staring at the armor, when she heard Chirity's voice, while the other four stared at her in shock.

"You know Sora?" Goofy asked.

"Y-yes. The last time I saw him was in the Final World trying to save her, which I see he succeeded."

"Who's this?"

The group looked up to see Kairi staring at them, most notably Chirithy.

"Hello"Chirithy greeted

"Kairi, this is Chirithy." Ven introduced, not knowing that she and Sora were the ones who brought Chirithy back.

Kairi smiled and held out her hand. "Nice to meet you Chirithy." She gave Chirithy a playful wink, hoping that they would get the message to keep their connection a secret. Luckily, they got the message as she shook the girl's hand.

"Nice to meet you too, Kairi."

"If you say you saw Sora in that 'Final World', do you think he's still there?" asked Ven

"Hmmm..." thought Chirithy "Maybe."

"Wait, really?" questioned Kairi. "Do you know how I could get there?"

"Ummmm..."

"Please, I need to know where he is. Riku and I can go look for him If he's there, we could bring him back."

"Uh… shouldn't you focus on the remaining princesses?" Donald hinted

"Yeah, but Sora is more important. The princesses can wait."

"But Master Yen Sid gave you this mission! You can't just abandoned you mission half way through!" Goofy reminded her.

"What about Sora?! You guys are his friends! Shouldn't you guys be more worried about him?"

Kairi's statement stunned the two, as they sadly looked away.

"Kairi." Ven whispered sadly

"Kairi." Everyone looked at Chirithy as she stepped closer towards the distressed girl. "I know you're worried about Sora, but you don't have to be too worried about him. He probably doesn't want you to be too worried either. Wherever he is, I'm sure Sora would be happy just knowing that you're doing you part in protecting the worlds, or in finding him. So don't be too worried about it. You'll find him eventually, I know it"

Kairi teared up a bit before wiping them away and smiled as she hugged Chirithy. "Thanks Chirithy."

Chirithy shyly looked away so Kairi wouldn't noticed them blushing. "Don't worry about it." she answer as she scratched their head.

"You're so cute!" she squealed as she hugged Chirithy tighter.

"Ack! Too! Tight!" Chirithy squeaked

"Sorry." She put Chirithy on the ground.

Ven looked back towards the castle. "I wonder what's taking Aqua and Terra so long."

"Want to go back?" Donald asked

"Do you guys mind?"

"We don't mind. Maybe something came up." Goofy said

"Alright. Let's go."

They started heading back to the castle.

As they entered the throne room, they heard two additional voices besides Aqua and Terra.

"Where did you find it?" Aqua asked

"In a place called the Chamber of Repose. It's found in the basement of Radiant Garden's castle."

"Why there?" Terra questioned

"Who knows?" Kairi recognized the voices of Axel and Isa. "According to Aleules, Dilan and Ansem, they found it when they found Terra, well, Xehanort in Terra's body." Axel answered

The four peeked inside the room. They saw a pieces of armor on the ground, as the four adults sat near the thrones. Aqua was holding the head piece.

"And he kept it all this time? Why?" Aqua asked

"What I managed to find out was that he used the Chamber to possibly regain his lost memories of either Terra or Xehanort. According to Xigbar, he was calling it his 'friend'." Isa replied

"Yeah, Vexen used to get angry whenever Xemnas went in there. Said he was doing it intentionally to avoid him." Axel laughed

"Sounds like something Terra would do." Aqua stated

"Hey!"

The group laughed as Ven came inside.

"Hey Isa! Hi Lea-, I mean Axel." Ven greeted

The adults looked over to him as he came closer.

"What are you doing here?"

"We found this in Radiant Garden and decided to drop it off." Axel pointing to the armor.

"Whose is it?" Kairi popped out from behind Ven.

"Woah! Geez, Kairi. Quit popping out of places!" Axel exclaimed

Kairi stuck her tongue out. "Not my fault you got scared so easily."

Axel pinched her cheeks. "Am not."

"Noooo! Stooop!" she giggled

"Whose armor is it?" Donald asked as he and Goofy walked up.

"It's mine." Aqua replied

"Really? It's...it's…" Goofy didn't know what to say, after seeing the armor so badly damaged.

"I know. Its really beat up. It must have gotten this way when I help Terra back into the Realm of Light. Or,... at least who I thought was Terra."

An uneasy silence enveloped the group, knowing the events that happened after.

"What's that on your hand?" Isa spoke up, to shake the uneasiness.

Kairi looked at him, surprised at the question he asked, looked at the item.

"It's a Keyblade armor. Aqua gave it to me, but it's not working."

"Oh that's because it's not fully complete yet." Aqua said "I have a few more pieces for it, so it won't work until it's done."

"What? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I would have if you didn't zone out and if someone hasn't pushed you guys out." Aqua looked over towards Terra.

"More liked kicked us out." Ven mumbled

Kairi giggled a little. "So you came by just to drop off the armor?"

"Yeah, but what are you doing here?" Axel asked

"Kairi just completed her first mission." Goofy grinned

"Really? Congrats."

Kairi blushed. "Thanks. So that leaves three more princesses, right?"

"Two, actually."

"Oh, right."

"Wait, if you're looking for the princesses, shouldn't you be looking for the next one?" asked Isa

"Oh, I wanted to tell everyone personally. Speaking of which, Isa, Axel, want us to take you back to Twilight Town on the Gummi Ship?" That's when she realized that they don't have a ship themselves. "Hey, wait, how'd you guys get here without a Gummi Ship?"

"Sorry, can't tell you." Axel replied , chuckling

"Secret." Isa smirked

" What?! Come on! Tell me!"

"We appreciate the offer, but we'll be fine. You have your job to do, we have ours." Isa answered

"We'll let the others know of your success. Just focus on you mission for now." Axel assured

"Alright." Kairi then took out her Gummiphone. "Oh, if that's the case, I should let Riku know. If he won't pick up, I could head back to the islands."

"No!" Everyone, except Kairi and Chirithy yelled, shocking the two. Kairi looked at them, completely stunned by the way everyone answer.

"S-sorry. What we meant was, that he could be busy, like…" stammered Axel

"Like he's in the middle of a fight and can't talk right now." finished Aqua

"O-oh, right."

"Why don't we head off for the next world?" suggest Donald

"Yeah. That way when you do see Riku, you'll have more to tell him." agreed Goofy

"But the armor…" started Kairi, looking at it.

"Don't worry about it. Once I finish with the rest, it should automatically work when you hit the button. So you can keep the armor." replied Aqua

"Really? Thanks, Aqua." She ran back over to her, tackling her with a big hug. "I'll let you know when it works asap!"

"I'll be waiting." Aqua giggled.

When Kairi was gone, they all sighed in relief.

"That was a close one." sighed Terra

Chirithy looked at them. "Does Kairi not know?"

Ven looked at her in confusion.

"About what you guys are doing."

Ven nodded. "I know it might be hard, but can you do the same Chirithy? Please? We're worried she might end up doing something reckless."

She thought for a moment, then sighed, seeing how she was already keeping one secret, she might as well keep another one.

"Alright."

"Thank you!" Ven turned to Isa and Axel. "So the reason Xemnas was looking for me because he remembered Terra's memories?"

The two looked at each other, then back at Ven, their faces showing the opposite of good news.

"No." Isa reluctantly said. "We think the main reason why Xemnas was looking for you, was because of another reason."

"Do you know anyone name Marluxia or Larxene?" asked Axel

"No."

"Weren't those two Nobodies?" Terra questioned

Isa nodded. "Of all the members of the original Organization XIII, only eight were Xehanort's vessels. Nine if you count Xion."

"Out of all of them, only four stood out since the had unknown backgrounds." Axel. He noticed the confused look on the trio. "Luxord, Demyx, Marluxia, and Larxene were the only ones we don't know anything about."

"You mean, you don't know what world their from?" Aqua asked

"Not one."

"What does that have to do with me?" Ven looked confused

"Because the reason Xemnas was looking for you, wasn't because of Terra's memories. It has something to do with those four." Isa stated

"Ven, do you have any memories from before you met Xehanort?" Axel asked

"Of course he doesn't. Xehanort caused that when he split him and Vanitas." Terra told them

"Actually, I do." Ven turned to them. "It was after I met him again, is when those memories came back."

"What about before that?" Axel asked "Like, do you have any memories from before you met Xehanort?"

"Um…" Ven thought back to his apprenticeship under Xehanort, then before that. Nothing. It was all blank.

"Ven?" Aqua said quietly

"Nothing…"

They all looked at him.

"I don't... remember… anything. Besides a few days before meeting Xehanort, which are still hazy, nothing." Ven looked at the ground. "I don't have any memories, even before I met Xehanort."


End file.
